When I'm With You
by moonlit destiny
Summary: Sometimes you have to struggle through life & do things you don’t want to to get the things you want. But when it’s all over, and you finally succeed... That’s when you realize what you truly wanted has been standing right in front of you. Kai/OC
1. Chapter 1

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**New story!! I wanted to write something a little more mature this time, so I may end up changing the rating on this story to M at some point, but we shall see**

**And I will be finishing my other story, so please don't ask me about it. thx :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade etc**

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I've never lived in a small city. We've moved around countless times since I was born, but we've never settled in a city that wasn't jammed to the max with traffic, people and high-rise buildings. So when we passed the welcome sign for Kaleona, the population number of 145 000 seemed very small to me. Mom said she wanted a change of pace. I have no idea why, now, out of the blue she decided she wants to just drop her life and pick it up somewhere else. She says it's so Lauren can be closer to school, but I think it's just an excuse, she was already pretty close. Besides, it was January, and she was already in her second semester.

"It's so pretty," Lauren remarked from the passenger seat. My head was resting against the window, so I turned my eyes to gaze at the scenery. Huge, beautiful houses lined the street. They had gates, tree-lines drived and at least three car garages. Behind the houses, you could glimpse the sunlit waters of the lake. I had to admit, even through my dislike of coming here, it was a pretty nice we continued to drive and the houses got smaller and smaller and the lake disappeared from sight. We passed a school and my mom pointed over Lauren to the right, "I think that's your new school Lina!"

"That's great mom," I replied rather unenthusiastically as I stared at the large brick building. It was a really nice looking school from what I could see. The lawn was green and the windows were spotlessly clean. Nothing like my old schools had been. I was already beginning to feel a little intimidated.

Luke reached over and punched my shoulder lightly. I turned to him and he offered me a sympathetic smile. I pouted at him and he laughed. Finally, after several turns through streets lined with houses, we pulled into a drive.

"Were here!", mom sang, pulling the key from the ignition and turning to smile around at all of her kids. Lauren let out an excited giggle and Luke bent his neck to look at the place from his window.

Luke and I had never seen the place, so when I pushed open the door and caught sight of my new home I was a little disappointed. It was small and worn looking with windows that obviously needed to be replaced and a cracked, weathered driveway.

Mom was looking at me a little nervously as I checked out the place so I smiled reassuringly at her. She looked really relieved. After seeing all the houses coming in, I guess I expected a little more. Mom worked really hard for the little money she made though, and supporting three kids is no easy feat. I knew I should be happy with this.

I grabbed my backpack from the floor on the backseat and followed mom and Lauren up the small concrete path into the house. There was a staircase to the right as you entered leading up to the three bedrooms. Down the little hall I could see part of the kitchen and to the left was the living room.

I gave myself a tour as my mom headed out to meet the moving truck with Luke. The bedrooms were on the small side and there was only one bathroom. Mom said the master bedroom was mine and Lauren's. Lauren and I had always shared a bedroom. At most of our previous houses, we had had bunk beds because there wasn't enough room to put two separate beds. Fortunately the room looked big enough that they wouldn't be necessary.

"Lina!" I heard Lauren shouting from the front door, "We need to help unload the truck!"

"Ok, I'm coming," I yelled back and headed back down the stairs to help.

When the moving truck finally drove away it was already late evening and the little house was filled with boxes. Luke had started to put together our beds so that we could sleep in them tonight and Mom and Lauren were unpacking the boxes labelled "Kitchen" in order to put something together to eat. I spent the night helping out Luke.

The next few days were rather unexciting, mostly spent unpacking. When I finally went to bed on Sunday night, the house was in pretty good order. Mostly everything was unpacked and put away and the furniture had found a spot. School started tomorrow and I was not looking forward to starting at another new school. Lauren was snoring lightly from her bed across the room. I let the familiar sound lull me to sleep.

*****

"Lina." I heard the faint sound of a familiar voice and the sensation of someone shaking my shoulder.

"Ugh, go away mom," I grumbled, swatting blindly at the air above me. I hate mornings.

"School starts in half an hour, get up," I heard her say much more sharply this time and I immediately sat up in panic.

"What?!" I exclaimed, turning to look at the alarm clock on the stand next to me. It read 7:40. Shit, I thought I'd set the alarm. I scrambled out of bead and dashed for the shower.

"I made you a lunch," mom called after me, "It's on the counter beside the fridge!"

I'd wanted to blowdry my hair and put on some makeup to look great on my first day, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen. Dressing hastily, I pulled on the dark blue plaid skirt, white blouse and blue socks that consisted of the school uniform. It was weird wearing a uniform; I'd never been to a school that required it. It had costed an arm and a leg too.

As I dashed into the kitchen, my lunch was sitting in a brown bag next to the fridge, just as mom had said. I shoved it into my book bag, slid into my black flats and dashed out the door.

"Have a good first day!" mom called after me from the front doorway. I waved my hand in the air in response.

The walk to the school was pretty linear. I just had to walk down my street, take a right and then take a left two streets up onto Willow Street and then follow that for a while. It was rather shocking how the scenery changed as soon as I reached Willow St. The buildings were bigger and much more taken care of; the rundown little houses were no longer in sight. It was almost as if I'd entered a whole new city. I turned left in the direction of the school. After about 10 minutes, I finally reached the large building we'd passed a few days ago.

It was every bit as prestigious as it looked from the road. The paved path up to the front doors was flawless, like it'd been done yesterday. I opened one of the front doors and proceeded inside.

The front office was immediately to the right, so I headed on in. There were several desks in here, and behind each one sat a middle aged woman. The woman sitting behind the closest one offered me a cold smile.

"Hi," I said to her awkwardly, "Um, this is my first day here. I'm not sure where to go."

"Oh, alright. Do you have the copy of your schedule that was mailed to you?" she asked.

"Yeah," I responded, "It's in my bag."

"Ok, well let's see it dear," she said and waited for me to pull it out from my bag. I tried to smooth it out a little before handing it to her. It looked so sad compared to the pristine sheets lying on her desk.

"Hmm, ok", she mumbled to herself and then looked up at me, "Well you missed the first week, as I'm sure you are aware and class began 15 minutes ago now, so we don't want you to disturb Mr. Chan."

"Um, yes, of course," I replied awkwardly at her disapproving stare. It's not like I meant to show up late. It's my alarm clocks fault, it is clearly dysfunctional.

"Alright," she said after a moment, "Your second class is on the second floor. So go out this door and up the stairs outside here and then make a left. It's near the end of the hall on the left hand side I believe."

"Oh, ok. Thank you," I nodded in reply and she handed me back my schedule.

"You're welcome. Your locker is on the first floor to the right. It's pretty close to the lobby here. Number 412, here is your lock," she said as she pulled a folder out of one of her drawers and handed me a lock. I put it in my bag.

"Ok, thanks," I said again and she nodded. I took that as my cue to leave.

The locker was pretty easy to find as it was pretty close to the front entrance. That was quite nice. The classroom was also exactly where the lady had said it was. This was also very nice. I wasn't sure what to do in the mean time, so I just sat on the ground next to the door and waited.

"Bored?"

I snapped out of daze and looked up. A cheerful looking boy with blonde hair smiled down at me.

"Oh, uh, yeah," I replied lamely. He laughed and I couldn't help but smile.

"Do you not have a first period class?" he asked curiously as he slid down the locker next to me.

"No, I do. Didn't really make it in time," I replied sheepishly and he laughed again. He had a very warm, friendly laugh. I liked it.

"Smooth. I'm Max by the way. I've never seen you around here before," He said, cocking his head to one side in interest.

"I'm Lina. I actually just moved here, today is my first day," I explained to him. He nodded in understanding.

"Oh really? Hey, I can show you around after class if you want?" he offered with a cheerful smile.

"Oh wow, yeah ok," I replied in surprised. I hadn't expected anyone to help me out like this, "That'd be great, thanks."

"No problem", he smiled and I smiled back. The bell rang shortly after that, and Max and I got up to head inside. Art was one of my favourite classes, so I was actually somewhat looking forward to this. I wasn't really sure where to sit when Max grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a table at the back.

"You can sit here with me," he said pointing to the chair next to him as he sat down. I smiled gratefully and took a seat.

The class filed in, and another boy and girl sat at the table across from Max and I. He introduced them as Tyson and Hilary, two of his best friends. They were all really nice people, and I couldn't help but start to like them. Hilary and Tyson were constantly bickering at each other, and I didn't understand why until Max informed me that they were actually together. That explained a lot.

When class was over, Max dragged me to the cafeteria with Hilary and Tyson. We sat at a table close to the middle and were later joined by a small, nerdy looking boy and another girl. They were both wearing round glasses. I tried not to laugh out loud; the boy looked like such a dork.

"I cannot believe how stupid some people are," the new girl grumbled angrily as she sat down. She hadn't seemed to notice my presence yet, so I tried to look like I was really into my sandwich. I probably looked so weird.

"Why, what happened?" Hilary asked with mild interest.

"Mariah. I have no idea how that girl made it to grade 13."

"Ohh," Hilary replied with a nod, as if that explained everything, "Your math assignment?"

"Yeah. I cannot believe Ms. Hallow paired me with her. It's so retarded."

"Yeah, that really sucks," Hilary said sympathetically and I got the feeling that this Mariah girl was not particularly well liked by them.

"Who are you?" the new girl asked after several moments. It took me a second to realize she was talking to me.

"Oh, uh, I'm Lina," I replied as I awkwardly tried to wipe crumbs off my face. Her stare was making me feel uncomfortable.

"She's new here, I picked her up in art class," Max explained with a delighted smile. The girl looked at him for a second and then back at me. Wow, this was awkward.

"Oh, ok. I'm Emily."

"That's Kenny by the way," Max said nodding towards the smaller guy. He barely looked up from his laptop to give me a small smile before looking back down. I wondered if he'd even be able to recognize me tomorrow.

Max leaned over to me and said in a low voice, "He's a real smart guy, but not much of a conversationalist."

I let out a small laugh and Max smiled shrewdly in response.

*****

The next few days went by a lot more smoothly than I thought. Max made me feel very welcome there and I really appreciated it. I sat with him and his friends every day at lunch that week, and I was happy to learn that Hilary was in both of my afternoon classes and Emily and Tyson were in my first one.

On Wednesday, I was sitting in English talking to Hilary before the teacher started when Mariah, a girl with long pink hair approached me. She had a strange feline-like quality to her face and she was very pretty.

"Your Lina right?" She asked. I don't know why though, she obviously already knew that I was.

"Yes."

"What's that short for?"

"Lina."

"What? That's the same name..."

"Yeah, it is."

"Oh," she stared at me with obvious uncertainly. I could tell that she didn't really understand. Emily really wasn't kidding when she said this girl was slow.

"It's just Lina. It's not short for anything." I thought I'd help her out.

"Ooh." Comprehension finally dawned on her face, "I see. That's a strange name."

"Well. It was supposed to be Celina, but my mom wanted all of her kid's names to begin with the letter L, so yeah, it's just Lina."

"Really? That's so weird."

"Yeah, I know."

She stood there staring at me for several moments before she smiled at me.

"Well Lina, it was nice to meet you"

"Um, you too." And then she walked off to her seat. After a moment I noticed Hilary staring incredulously at me from her seat next to mine.

"What?" I asked, staring back at her innocently.

"That was really weird", Hilary said, her eyebrows still raised in amazement as she glanced over at Mariah.

"It was?"

"Uh, yeah... very."

"Why?"

Hilary was looking at me like I was seriously insane. "Because it's Mariah, she barely ever goes out of her way to talk to someone."

******

The next two weeks were really uneventful. Mariah hadn't spoken to me at all since that one time. And I was becoming real good friends with Max and Hilary. I found Emily and Kenny a bit too school oriented for my taste, but we got a long and Tyson was just kind of a goof. He was a nice guy when it came down to it though, even if he wasn't always the brightest.

It was in my third week that Mariah finally spoke to me again. It was the end of the day on Thursday and I was shoving stuff from my locker into my book bag.

"Hey Lina."

I looked up to see her leaning against the locker beside mine.

"Oh, hi Mariah," I replied. I felt strangely defensive being in her presence; like I expected her to have bad intentions for talking to me. Ridiculous, I know. It was probably because of what Hilary said.

"Got plans for the weekend?" She asked casually, her head cocked to one side.

"Oh, um, I don't think so," I replied, somewhat taken aback by her question. I'd gotten so used to her not talking to me, that it felt sort of weird to be doing so.

"There's a big party this weekend, you should come."

I honestly had no idea what to say. I'm sure Hilary would have fainted in shock if she was here.

"Oh, uh..." I replied awkwardly.

"You can bring your friends if you'd like. It's ok, there's going t be a lot of people there," she assured me, as if she knew the reason behind my skepticism. Maybe she really was smarter than people gave her credit for.

"Ok. Well, I'll ask them and see."

"Great, here's the address and stuff, hope you can come." She handed me a little piece of paper with writing on it. I nodded dumbly.

"See ya!" she said and pranced out of the building. I couldn't wait to tell Hilary, she was going to_ love _this.

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**sorry its a bit boring, first chappie and all. it'll get better, promise!!**

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	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to all that reviewed:**

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**Heres the next chappie :)**

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"What??!" Hilary practically yelled when I told her about my encounter with Mariah the day before.

"She...invited...party? WHAT?"

"Yep", I assured her. She continued to stare at me in shock. Clearly, she didn't believe me.

"Should we... go?" Max asked, leaning over Hilary's shoulder to check out the evidence. Hilary sent him a murderous glare.

"No, we absolutely should NOT go"

Max and I exchanged looks, but neither of us spoke. Not a good idea to work up an already angry Hilary. After several moments, and several more meaningful looks between Max and me, I tried to bring it up again.

"It's just a party Hilary, there's going to be a ton of people there. You don't even have to see her", I said gently, trying to bring her to reason.

"Yeah, but it's going to be filled with _friends_ of Mariah's... how is that any better?"

"Well..." I began, trying to come up with anything. Max piped up while I was thinking, "Ok, well, it's not really. But we'll be there, and its free drinks and an indoor pool and everything. "

"An indoor pool? People have indoor pools??" I said in surprise and Max nodded in amusement. Wow, that's so cool.

"Why would she even invite us anyway", Hilary replied, obviously not able to argue with Max's legitimate point. "She never has before."

"I dunno", Max shrugged, "Who cares, she did this time. We should go, it could be fun."

Hilary looked from my eager face to Max's and sighed. She obviously saw that she wasn't going to win this one.

"Alright fine", she grudgingly accepted to come. She leaned back and crossed her arms in an angry huff. I grinned at Max. Mission accomplished.

*****

When I arrived at Hilary's the next night to get ready, I was pretty impressed with her house. It was a good size and up-kept. I thought of my little worn house and felt a little embarrassed. It just didn't compare.

Hilary's mother answered the doorbell. She had short brown hair that looked a lot like Hilary's and a warm smile. She instructed me up the staircase and to the left for Hilary's room.

Her room was really nice. It was painted pink, with a double bed sitting against the wall. Emily was sitting on the edge of the bed while Hilary held up different dresses to her body.

"Which one?" She asked, first holding up a pink long sleeve top with a white skirt and then a light blue dress.

"The dress" I said as I walked in and they both looked up in surprise. Hilary put the dress up to herself and looked into the mirror, turning this way and that.

"You think?"

"Yep, definitely."

"Ok awesome. I picked out a bunch for you to choose from, they're on the bed." She said gesturing to the pile of dresses behind Emily. Emily was wearing a light coloured skirt and a pretty black top. I went to sift through the pile of clothes.

Deciding on the black dress, I pulled it on and turned to the girls for approval.

"Oh wow Lina, that looks so good!" Hilary said in delight. Emily smiled and nodded in agreement.

"It's a really pretty dress Hilary, thanks", I turned to look at myself in the mirror. I'd put on a little make-up at home before I came and put loose curls into the ends of my long brown hair. The dress had a wide scoop neck and came down to about mid-thigh. I smiled as I looked into the mirror, I had to admit, I looked pretty good.

"Hey Lina?" Emily asked as Hilary was straightening her hair.

"Yeah?" I turned to look at her.

"Did you apply to college next year?"

"Oh, yeah I just applied to the University of Kaleona actually. Both my sister and brother go there"

"Just the one?"

"Uh yeah, just the one."

She just nodded in reply. This wasn't a subject I liked to talk about. School was a big issue for me. Lauren was currently there in her 4th year and most of the money my parents had saved up for our schooling had been given to her. The little that was left was given to Luke. He worked a lot in order to pay for the rest. That left me with literally no money to pay for my education.

I wasn't sure how I was going to pay for next year, but mom said we'd figure it out. I can't help but doubt it though, especially now that she bought this house.

But the guys arrived not too much later in Tyson's SUV, pushing my worries out of my mind. We all piled in, it was tight trying to fit 6 people into a 5 seated car, but we managed by having Hilary sit on Tyson while Kenny drove. It only took us about 10 minutes to arrive.

I had never seen such an extraordinary house. It was actually enormous. There was a front gate and we had to push a little doorbell button for someone to open it. The drive was lines with little trees and curved up towards the large house. When we pulled up, there was a man in a black suit waiting for us. Kenny handed him the keys and we all bailed out. The man got in and drove the car around back. Valet service, at a party, holy crap.

"Oh my god, Mariah has her own private valet??" I exclaimed in utter bewilderment.

"This isn't Mariah's house you know", Emily told me and I stared at her in surprise before she continued.

"Yeah, it actually belongs to a friend of the guy she's seeing. Mariah has a nice house, but I'm pretty sure no one's comes close to the Hiwatari mansion."

"Wait, so this isn't even her party?" I replied sceptically. Oh god, we are crashing the party of the richest guy ever.

But Max reassured me that it would be totally fine and I tried to believe him. We went inside and down a flight of ridiculously big stairs into the basement. I was completely shocked when I walked into the room. There was actually, seriously, an indoor pool. There was a doorway to the left in order to go in and there were several people in there swimming. A wall of glass separated it from the main room. There was a pool table to the right and a big screen TV on the opposite wall that was playing music videos. Speakers all over the walls blared music, making it very difficult to hear anyone speak. Couches lined most of the walls. Past the pool table was a bar, where there was an actual bartender serving drinks.

"Wow", Hilary yelled to me and I nodded in a daze. I couldn't believe this was someone's actual house.

"Do you see Mariah?" I yelled back over the loud music and Hilary shook her head in disgust. Tyson grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the pool. She cried out something that sounded like "No, my hair" but it was really hard to tell.

"I'm going to try to find Mariah", I yelled to Max, "You know, tell her I came and thanks"

Max nodded. Him, Kenny and Emily headed towards the bar. It was really hard to find Mariah through the huge crowd of people. It didn't help that she wasn't very tall. I finally caught a glimpse of her pink hair and darted my way through the crowd towards her.

"Mariah!" I yelled but she didn't hear my over the noise. I yelled again as I got closer and this time she turned around.

"Lina!" She yelled, looking happy to see me, and pulled me towards her. She nodded towards a doorway opposite the pool wall and I followed her through. It wasn't quite as loud in here, and it became a lot quieter when she shut the door.

"Hey, I'm glad you came", she said offering a sly sort of smile.

"Thanks, this place is incredible", I replied as I looked around the room. It was smaller than the other room and had more couches shoved up against the walls. On one couch, a guy with red hair was making out with some random girl. I couldn't see either of their faces and quickly looked away. On the other, were two guys with xbox controllers in their hands, staring intently at a TV across from them. There were also shelves lining the walls and some boxes piled in the corner. It seemed like the kind of room that was only used when needed.

"Tala, come here", Mariah called to the red haired guy as she rolled her eyes and then she turned to me. "I'd like you to meet some friends of mine."

I nodded in reply, not really sure what to say. I found it a little weird that she wanted me to meet her friends since I barely knew her, but I followed her over the couch with the two guys. She leaned down and kissed the head of the black-haired one and then looked up and smiled.

The red-head, Tala, had kicked the girl out of the room and came over.

"Fuck Mariah, I was busy, what do you want?" he scowled at her and she glared at him.

"Lina, this is Tala, the biggest jerk on the planet", she introduced me and he scowled at her. His angry look disappeared when he looked at me though.

"Hey", He replied, and he blatantly looked me from head to toe. I glared back at him and he smirked.

"Piss off Tala", Mariah rolled her eyes at him again and then indicated for me to stand next to her. Tala just laughed and then left the room.

"Lina, this is Ray and Kai", Mariah said, pointing to the black-haired guy and then the other one, whose hair was a strange two-toned blue. Ray turned and offered me a half smile. He was really good looking, with the same sort of feline features that Mariah had. The other guy did not respond.

"Come dance with me Ray", Mariah whined to him from her seat on the armrest.

"Alright, one second", he replied and I looked at the screen to see some kind of hockey game going on.

"Fuck", Ray exclaimed as someone scored a goal and he tossed his controller on the couch, "Alright babe, let's go."

Mariah smiled as Ray got up and threw an arm over her shoulders. "Nice to see you Lina, let's talk later tonight ok?"

"Uh, sure", I replied lamely as she and Ray left the room, leaving me awkwardly with the guy that wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. Great.

I was too busy staring after them to notice Kai get up and shut off the system. And when I finally looked back I was shocked to see him staring at me. My breath caught in my throat, he was unbelievably gorgeous.

His eyes were a deep auburn and he was tall, just over 6 feet it looked. I had never felt anyone stare at me with such intensity; it was like he could see through me, like he could just tell, exactly what I was thinking. It made me feel weak and nervous and I couldn't bring myself stare back at him, so I lowered my eyes. I knew my face was turning pink, and I hated that.

A few seconds later the door flew open and Tala entered with a girl. I couldn't help but notice that it wasn't the same girl that was in here earlier.

"Oh, hey Kai", Tala nodded towards him, "Mind if I use this room for a bit?"

"Whatever", Kai replied with a shrug and I looked back at him at the shock of hearing his voice. It was an astonishingly, deep, husky sound. And I stared him for a moment, longing to hear it again.

"Ok, thanks man", Tala replied and stared at me expectantly. I snapped out of it and hurried out the door. Kai followed suit.

When I exited I almost immediately ran into Max. Emily and Kenny weren't with him and he was holding a drink. I took it right out of his hand and downed the whole thing. He stood there staring with wide-eyes.

"Sure you can have my drink Lina..." he laughed after a moment and I smiled wearingly in reply.

"You ok?" he asked, his eyes narrowing somewhat in concern. I nodded in reply. Yes, I was ok. I still felt a little shaky after my encounter with Kai, but the drink Max had was strong and helped wash that feeling down.

We headed on over to the bar to get refills, sitting down at two of the stools. I looked around, searching.

"What were you doing in there?" Max asked, taking a large swig from his glass.

"Mariah introduced me to some of her friends", I replied, my gaze still on the crowd.

"Oh really? That's random."

A realization suddenly dawned on me and my gaze snapped back to Max, "Have you ever met her friend Kai?"

"Ahh yes, the _legendary _Kai Hiwatari", Max nodded in response. I got the feeling that he didn't think much of him.

"Hiwatari? So wait, this is his house?"

"Yep."

"Wow, he's loaded... wait, what do you mean legendary?"

Max stared at me for a moment, his eyes searching, like he was trying to figure out what I was thinking. Finally he answered, "You just don't want to get involved with him ok?"

I wasn't really sure what to do with that, but it was obvious that Max didn't want to talk about it so I made myself swallow the subject. I nodded in reply and he smiled, clearly happy to be moving on.

"Pretty awesome party", I said and Max nodded. We had a few more drinks, and soon we were both feeling pretty good. Suddenly, when I was on my fifth drink, Max toppled off his stool. We laughed so hard, my stomach actually hurt.

Tyson and Hilary joined us later, and Hilary was obviously too drunk to care that her hair was no longer perfectly straight. Kenny showed up a few minutes later dragging a drunk Emily.

"Emily!" I yelled happily, jumping up and hugging her. I'd never liked her more.

"Dance time!!!" Hilary cheered, pulling Tyson out after her. Emily and I followed, arm in arm. We jumped up and down, and yelled out the lyrics to the song. Eventually, Max came and joined us. A little later, Tyson decided he wanted to go swimming again and this time Hilary thought it was a marvellous idea. I was so into my dancing that I barely noticed when Max and Emily started kissing on the dance floor. Finally, when I caught on I laughed excitedly at the sight and skipped off to get another drink. I don't know why I thought it was so fantastic. I'd never thought of Max and Emily as an item. But this night, it seemed like a brilliant idea.

I started feeling like I needed to lie down after another two drinks. My stomach was so not happy with me. I stumbled into the room that Mariah had brought me into before. Fortunately, Tala seemed to have left and the room was dark and empty. I flopped down on one of the couches.

I lay there for who knows how long, my head spinning in circles. I'd finally started to feel better when the door flew open. The light was out and I couldn't see who it was. I heard a thud and a small moan, when I realized that it was actually two people. A pretty busy two people.

"Umm", I blurted out, unsure of what else to say in this situation. Or maybe I was just too hammered to think of anything good. I couldn't tell.

I heard movement and then a light flickered on, blinding me. I let out a groan as I shielded my eyes from the brilliant light. After a moment, I could see and I turned to stare at the intruders.

Kai was standing next to a girl I'd never seen before. She was breathing a bit heavily, like she'd just ran up a flight of stairs. She also looked really annoyed. I felt myself turning a nice shade of pink again under his intense gaze.

I tried to stand up too quickly and moaned. My head swirled like crazy and I felt my stomach clench in displeasure. I clutched my head and groaned, falling back onto the couch.

"Wow, are you ok?" the girl asked, approaching me tentatively. She was kind of blurry, with short blonde hair and a pink dress. She was very pretty from what I could tell.

"Oh yeah, just peachy", I replied, still clutching at my head, eyes closed. She obviously didn't know what to do, since she just stood there, hovering awkwardly above me.

"You can leave Allie", I heard Kai's deep voice.

"But Kai..." I heard her protest.

"Go", he said again, this time much firmer.

She obeyed, but I heard her stop at the door and say irritably, "it's Alicia, by the way."

The next thing I heard was the door shut. I sat there for a few more minutes, until I felt well enough to open my eyes. I was shocked to see Kai sitting on the end of the other couch watching me. I'd figured he'd left with the girl.

"Why are you here?" I mumbled, staring at him from under the hand on my forehead. My head was still spinning a little, and it was hard to put him into sharp focus. Apparently this also made be brave enough to speak to him.

"So your Mariah's new pet", he said, ignoring my question. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"What?"

"She probably could have picked a classier one", he mused. My eyes widened in surprise. Was he insulting me?

"What?" I said again, dumbly.

"Hmm. And a hotter one too"

"Fuck you, asshole", I retorted angrily, glaring up at him. A smirk spread across his face. I couldn't believe he was insulting me. Who the hell did he think he was?

He stared at me for another moment and then stood up and headed toward the door. He stopped briefly before leaving, cocking his head to one side, "Try not to wreck any of my furniture. It's worth more than you."

I wanted to kill him.

Really,_ really,_ bad.

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**Wow, another long one lol. Anywayzz review!! plzzz!!! =D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to all that reviewed:  
**

_Dark Dragon - Fire Fox_

_saekuto_

_Starlightmonkey_

_marishka91_

_KristyHimura_

**Ok, here's the next chappie, hope you enjoy!!**

-----------------------------------

I had no idea what time it was when I got home that night. I barely remember leaving, let alone the actual drive. I had some recollection of someone half-carrying me to my front door and then leaving me to stumble inside, but that was basically it.

I woke up the next morning feeling disgusting and drained. I hobbled on into the bathroom and took a long, hot shower. I felt a lot better after,but my stomach was still churning restlessly.

I went downstairs to get some food in the hope that it'd help a bit. Luke was sitting at the kitchen table, inhaling some cereal and reading the paper. He looked up as I came in.

"Dear lord, what happened to you?" He asked with an amused expression on his face.

"Party", I responded blankly, grabbing a bowl and spoon from the cupboard and sitting down across from him. I picked up the box of cereal on the table and poured it into my bowl.

"Ahh, I see. Was it good?"

"It was. Except for the asshole of a host", I replied, grimacing at the thought of him. _Such_ an ass.

Luke laughed, "He couldn't have been that bad."

"Yeah, right", I scoffed as I got up to get the milk from the fridge, "You should meet Kai. He's something else."

Luke immediately frowned, lowering the paper to stare at me. "Hiwatari?"

"Yeah", I replied slowly, eyeing him suspiciously, "You know him?"

"He goes to Kaleona U. Stay away from that guy, he's bad news."

"He's a total jerk."

Luke just stared at me for a moment, before nodding and picking up his paper, "Good, I wouldn't want to have to beat him up because of you."

I rolled my eyes at his comment, but I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Luke was always there for me. And I knew, mostly from experience, that he'd beat the crap out of anyone that tried to hurt me. Lauren was mom's favourite, we all knew it. She was the smart, responsible one, going to school to become a doctor. Mom was so proud of her. Consequently, most of her attention went to Lauren and Lauren's needs. So Luke and I looked after each other, and we were pretty close as a result.

Lauren and mom came into the kitchen not too much later, each carrying several bags of groceries. They started putting them all away. I was eating away at my bowl of cereal.

"Why were you home so late last night Lina?" mom asked as she stocked the fridge. Oh crap, I forgot about this part.

"Umm", I began, trying to bide some time to think of something. Unfortunately nothing good was coming to mind.

"She was out with me", Luke said with a wink and I smiled gratefully back at him. Saved by the bro.

"Really?" Mom said suspiciously, turning away from the fridge to look at us both.

"Yeah. We went to a late movie and then went out for some coffee. Sorry mom", Luke continued, sending her a sincerely apologetic look. I mimicked his expression when her stare turned to me.

"Well ok", she finally seemed to believe us, and went back to putting away the food. I mouthed a "thank you" across the table to Luke. He smiled and gave a slight nod. I have the best brother in the world.

*****

Monday came faster than I would have liked. Pulling myself out of bed was hard and I had to make a mad dash to school to make it in time. My first two classes went by slowly, and I found myself concentrating more on staying awake than listening. I wearily followed Max, Hilary and Tyson to the cafeteria when lunch time finally arrived. We all sat down at our usual table.

"I cannot believe how amazing his house was," Hilary exclaimed to Tyson and he nodded enthusiastically. It seemed she'd forgotten how against she was about going to begin with.

"Oh man, I was so hammered," Tyson laughed, dropping down into a chair and leaning back with his hands behind his head, relishing in the memory.

"Yeah, I know," Hilary rolled her eyes at him in amusement. Tyson grinned back at her sheepishly.

I pulled my peanut butter and jam sandwich out of its little baggy and started eating. Tyson and Hilary continued to share highlights of the night between us excitedly. I laughed when Hilary told us Tyson had walked straight into the glass wall that night and fell back into the pool. Max however, barely cracked a smile. I stared over at him for a few seconds, but his gaze was cast downwards as he ate, his thoughts were clearly elsewhere.

"Everything alright Max?" I asked and he looked up, blinking quickly to snap out of his thoughts. Tyson and Hilary both looked towards him in interest as well.

"Uh, yeah," he replied a little awkwardly, smiling lamely, "I'm good."

I looked towards Tyson and Hilary for some kind of insight but they both shrugged and went back to talking.

Emily and Kenny joined us not too later. It took me a few seconds to notice the tension. Max was looking down intently at his food and Emily was staring sort of up and away, her face a nice shade of pink. I almost laughed out loud. This was totally about them hooking up that night. Oh man, such drama. I could have fun with this.

"So Max," I said, trying to sound aloof, "Did you have a good time the other night?"

He looked up and glared daggers at me. I noticed Emily rest her forehead in her hand, trying to hide her face from view. I smiled innocently at him.

"Did you enjoy chatting it up with Kai all night?" he retaliated. Everyone's attention immediately went to me. I instantly regretted trying to mess with Max about him and Emily. I totally underestimated him. His ability to strike back was much better than I thought.

"You spent the night talking to _Kai?"_ Hilary exclaimed in amazement, her eyes slightly widened. I was receiving basically the same look from everyone at the table. I felt like some huge spotlight had just focused on me.

"Not really, I talked to him like, twice," I replied uncomfortably under everyone's stares. Even Emily seemed to have forgotten she was avoiding Max over this apparently very interesting news. News that wasn't nearly as exciting as everyone seemed to think.

"Uh, why?" Tyson asked in disgust, "He's such an asshole."

"Yeah, I know that now. I wouldn't even consider it 'talking'. It was more like him insulting me more than anything."

"He's _so_ hot though," Hilary said in response and everyone turned to look at her. She blushed slightly and then said defensively, "What? I'm just saying..."

Tyson seemed to be a bit irritated with her comment, as he continued to glare at her when everyone else looked back towards me.

"Yeah well," I shrugged, taking a sip from my juice box, "He's a complete ass."

Tyson nodded vigorously in agreement, still eyeing Hilary crossly. She went on to ignore him.

"I guess so," she said slowly, "But can you blame him really?"

That caught my attention pretty fast and I jumped on her comment a little more quickly then I would have liked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, and Max gave me a look for my obvious eagerness to discuss the subject. I ignored him, I wasn't exactly proud of it either.

"Oh, you know. He had a rough upbringing. I hear his grandfather is a nightmare," Hilary explained as if it were general information, "It's just the two of them in that enormous house. Really, it's no wonder he does the things he does."

"You're seriously trying to defend that guy?" Tyson exclaimed in utter disgust, staring at her incredulously. She rolled her eyes at his outburst and sighed.

"Can we just drop the subject?" Max asked in annoyance. Tyson sat back in a huff and Hilary shrugged; everyone else looked away.

"Why do you hate him so much?"

Max looked up at me and if possible, the silence at our table became even more tense. Hilary shook her head at me, trying to get me to drop it. Everyone else simply stared.

To my complete surprise Max stood up abruptly and stormed out of the cafeteria. I stared after him in shock. I wasn't sure what just happened. This was so unusual of him.

"What...?" The words escaped my gaping mouth. I looked around at everyone, but they were all purposely avoiding my gaze. I was so confused.

The lunch bell decided this was the perfect time to ring. Everyone got up so fast, Tyson actually knocked over his water bottle in his haste. Hilary said a quick goodbye to me as everyone hurried off to class. In her rush to get away she must have forgotten we had next period together and I was left sitting at the table by myself. That was so weird.

Hilary barely spoke to me during my next two classes with her, and when the final bell rang she was gone so fast I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. I tried to hurry in order to catch Max at his locker before he left but there wasn't any sign of him when I got there. I sighed. This sucked.

"Hey Lina."

I spun around at the call of my name to see Mariah standing there smiling at me.

"Oh, hey Mariah," I replied, offering her a small smile. I'd kind of hoped to see Max standing there instead. She came up and started walking with me in the direction of the front lobby.

"You left the other night without coming to talk to me," she said looking over at me. I couldn't tell if she was actually mad about it or just pretending to be.

"Sorry, had a bit of a rough night. Too many drinks," I laughed, feeling a bit awkward. She smiled in reply.

"That's ok, don't worry about it," she said, waving her hand lightly through the air. She pushed open the door to the big open lobby and held it for me to walk through.

I didn't understand why my friends didn't like Mariah. Sure, being in her presence was a little awkward sometimes, but she seemed like a nice enough person.

"So how do you like Kaleona so far?" she asked once she'd followed me through and stopped in front of me.

"Oh, it's pretty good," I said with a shrug, slightly surprised that she was even aware I'd just moved here.

"That's good," she replied. This conversation seemed more like meaningless small talk than anything and I was beginning to wonder why she even wanted to talk to me in the first place. However, she did seem the type for idle chitchat.

"Sure," I replied, not knowing what else to say. My hands started playing at the hem of my skirt as I was beginning to feel awkward again as we both stood there silently for a few moments.

"What are you planning to do next year?" she finally said.

"I'm not sure exactly," I said honestly, lifting my right shoulder in a slight shrug, "I think I'd like to go to Kaleona U but I don't know if that'll work out."

"Oh?" she said, her eyes widening in interest, "Why wouldn't it?"

I never really enjoyed this part, but people always found it necessary to ask. I guess that's human curiosity for you; desire to know everything. I think most people expected me to say that I didn't have the grades to get in. My grades weren't fantastic, but they weren't the problem.

"Oh, you know, money," I said, with a little half-hearted laugh. I always tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal, like I didn't really care all that much. I'd learned people tend to let things go when you make them sound like they're not worth knowing.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied and I shrugged it off. The weird thing was that she didn't seem sorry at all; in fact she seemed almost pleased. We stood there together a little longer. I felt awkward standing there quietly, but I didn't feel like I could just walk away without seeming rude. So I let my eyes wander the passing students to avoid her stare until she broke the silence once again.

"Well..." she began and I looked back at her, "If you ever decide you want to make some good money, come see me. I run a sort of... business, and I think you'd be a good addition to my team."

Of all the things I thought she might say, _that _was not one of them. Mariah seemed like a nice girl, but she didn't seem like the kind of girl that could do business, let alone run one. I mean, she couldn't even figure out my name before.

But she looked very serious. She was smiling still, but her expression was not of amusement. She was clearly not joking.

"Oh, um, thank you..." I replied lamely. At that moment Ray walked in the building.

"Mariah hurry up, Kai's waiting," he said loudly over the last trickle of departing students. He was standing in the front door way, leaning in while he held the door ajar.

"Ok sorry, I'm coming," she waved back and he left, "See ya Lina."

"Um, bye," I replied as she hurried after him through the front doors.

I stared after her for a moment before I headed towards the exit myself. That sure had been interesting.

*****

**Sorry it's a bit short, but I'll put the next chapter up a lot quicker this time.**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to all that reviewed:**

_KristyHimura_

_Marishka91_

_Starlightmonkey_

**Thanks so much you guys, here's the next chappie**

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I was in a sort of daze from the moment I woke up this morning. My art teacher was talking, but I wasn't hearing anything that was being said. My encounter with Mariah the previous day had seemed like some sort of joke at the time, even through her obvious seriousness in discussing the subject. And at the time, I hadn't given it too much consideration. Her offer, due mostly to its hilarity, had held little significance to me.

Unfortunately, sometime between then and later on that night, my thoughts had drifted back to her mysterious offer. And my mind had been considering the subject since. I could not for the life of me, figure out what sort of business a girl like her could possibly be running. My mind had drifted from idea to idea, each one seemingly less likely than the last. And yet, after my constant thought, I still had nothing. She was just another eighteen year old girl. What kind of high school girl runs her own business? She didn't seem like that kind of person, and the whole situation was rather shocking.

"Lina?"

Hilary's voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked up, "Yeah?"

"You seem so out of it today," she replied, cocking her head to one side in concerned interest, "Everything alright?"

"Yep. Sorry, I'm just tired," I assured her with a smile. She returned the gesture with a nod and turned back to face our teacher.

I had thought about asking Hilary about this business of Mariah's, if it were something I should consider. But I knew it was a pointless endeavour, since even if she were aware of what it was, it was likely she would have a very strong opinion against my pursuing it. And I wasn't sure the possibility of information was worth her lecture.

Hilary was definitely a loyal and caring person, but she was also quick to judge and scrutinize. And even though I found her to be a somewhat strange and simple-minded girl, I had taking a bit of a liking to Mariah Wong. So I knew any conversation I had concerning her with Hilary would not be an agreeable one.

When the lunch bell rang, we all headed for the cafeteria to eat. Tyson and Max were discussing some new video game they'd been playing between one another while Hilary and I lagged behind. Listening to their discussion that I really didn't understand, I remembered Max's outburst from the previous day. I couldn't believe I had almost forgotten something like that.

"Oh, Max!" I said loudly, taking a few quick steps to try to catch up with him. He didn't hear me over the loud voices of the crowd of moving students, so I went to take a few more quick steps and call out again, when someone grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

"Ugh," I called out as I nearly smashed into a locker, "What the hell are – oh."

Hilary had released my arm and was standing next to me with a glare on her face.

"What?" I snapped, rubbing my upper arm. She sure had a strong grip.

"What are you doing? You _know _he doesn't want to talk about it, he made it very clear. You're only going to upset him again," she explained irritably, pointing her finger down the hall after him and then at me during her rant. I stepped back automatically, slightly taken aback. She glared at me for a moment and then her stance relaxed and she sighed. I felt a little ashamed of my insensitivity.

"Sorry," I said after a moment, "You're right, I didn't think that through."

"No, you didn't," she replied bluntly, shaking her head. I stared back at her guiltily.

"I can see where you're coming from though, that was probably very confusing for you."

I nodded in reply, grateful that she at least understood my point of view. I wasn't trying to upset him, I just wanted to know. It was selfish of me perhaps, but if he was going to insist I stay away from some guy, I thought I had a right to at least know why.

"Hilary..." I began, not sure exactly how to phrase what I wanted to say. I was sure that she knew the answer; that they all knew.

"I don't think he wants you to know," she replied in understanding and I sighed irritably at her response. It was not the one that I had been hoping for.

"But why? He can't tell me to stay away from Kai and then refuse to tell me why. That's not fair," I said hotly.

"Well, I guess...but..." Hilary replied, and I could see her resolve was wavering.

"Spill," I demanded and she sighed again.

"Fine," she caved, much more easily than I expected, "But you cannot tell _anyone _that I told you... And I am only telling you this because I think you deserve to know."

I nodded in agreement and then waited eagerly for her explanation.

"Ok, well I obviously am not Max and was not really there for any of it, so I only really know the gist of what happened..."

"Hilary, come on," I said impatiently.

"Ok, ok," she said reluctantly, her brow furrowed, "Well, it was last year sometime and Kai and his friends were in their last year here. We had a friend, Sarah, well, she wasn't really a friend, but she was Max's cousin so they were pretty close and so we all kind of knew her. She's a year older than all of us; she moved to Kaleona for her last year to live with Max when her parents died."

"Her parents died? Both of them?" I said quietly, and I felt my heart ache a little in sympathy for her pain, "How awful."

"Yeah, very," Hilary replied sadly, pausing for a moment before she continued, "Anyway, she did her last year here with us, and for some reason she ended up falling pretty hard for Kai. I don't think he even noticed her until some party they were both at. They hooked up that night and Sarah was so happy about it. I think it happened a couple more times, but then she saw him with some other girl and had a bit of a breakdown. I know she confronted him about it, and he said some real mean things to her."

"Oh really?" I asked, my complete and utter attention focused on her, "Like what?"

"I'm not sure exactly, I just know he was a total ass. He just _used_ her and she was so upset. Max was furious, he went and tried to beat Kai up over it. But he ended up getting pounded and humiliated pretty bad."

Hilary stopped talking after that, and we both remained silent for several moments. I felt guilty for trying to make Max explain himself to me. It was obvious to me now why he behaved the way he did. And it was also very clear why he hated Kai Hiwatari so much.

"So now you know," Hilary said with a shrug. She had a bit of a guilty expression on her face, and I felt a little bad for making her tell me.

"Where is she now?"

"She went off to university. She got over it I think, but I think it was harder for her just because she was already so broken, you know?"

"Yeah, totally," I replied with a nod. The thought of losing my mom was shattering enough; I couldn't even imagine what it would feel like to lose both your parents, and so suddenly.

"Let's go eat," Hilary suggested, trying to break the depressing atmosphere. I agreed.

We set off towards the cafeteria silently. Hilary's explanation still lingered in my mind, and I couldn't help but start to feel resentment towards Kai. How could he do something like that to her, especially after what she'd been through? It was just so cruel.

"Hilary?" I asked before we entered, wanting to clarify one last thought that had entered my mind, "What happened to her parents?"

"Car accident," she responded sadly.

"I see," I said quietly, "Thank you, for telling me"

"No problem," Hilary replied with a small smile, "I _did_ think it was something you should know."

*****

I tried really hard to be cheerful around Max for the rest of the week. He had gone back to his normal cheerful self, as if that event had never even happened. No one had brought it up, and there was no behaviour on anyone's part to indicate anything had even taken place. And I was completely fine with this; grateful even.

I was walking down the school's drive on my way home on Thursday when Tyson's SUV pulled up next to me.

"Lina!!" Hilary shouted, hanging out the passenger side window, "Get in!"

They were impeding the flow of traffic so I quickly jumped into the backseat behind her. Max was already sitting back there and he grinned warmly when I climbed in.

"We're going shopping," Hilary told me, leaning around the side of her seat, "And _you_ are coming."

"Oh, ok," I laughed in compliance and Max sent me an amused smirk.

The mall was a pretty short drive away from the school so it didn't take us very long to get there. Once Tyson had parked his SUV, we all bailed out.

"God Tyson, could you have parked any further away from the door?" Hilary asked in annoyance.

"There's nowhere else to park, it's not my fault," he whined, earning himself an exasperated look from his girl.

"Yes there was, but you drove right past it and then someone else took it."

"What? Where? I didn't see a spot..."

I fell behind the bickering couple to walk with Max. We exchanged smirks of amusement at their ridiculous argument as we fell into step. When we walked through the doors, Tyson made a mad dash for the ice cream shop to the left. He had already placed his order when we all caught up. Hilary gave him a smack across the arm.

"Always after the food," she muttered, but her irritated expression faded when Tyson handed her the cone he had thoughtfully bought for her a few moments earlier.

I went to reach for my purse for some money to get my own when I realized that it wasn't hanging over my shoulder like it usually did. It took me a few moments to remember that I had stuffed it into my abnormally empty book bag after school.

"Hey Tyson, I left my wallet in your car, can I get the keys?" I asked him, "I'll just run out and grab it real quick."

"Yeah, sure," He said with an amused smile and pulled his car keys from his pocket and handed them to me, "We'll just sit down here till you get back."

"Thanks," I replied, taking them from his hand and turning to run back out.

I slowed my pace down to that of a hurried walk, while I scanned the parking lot trying to remember where exactly Tyson had parked. It was somewhere near the back, I was pretty sure, to the left I think. Or maybe it was to the right. Ugh, crap, I had no idea. I started walking between the rows of cars, searching them for the right one when I tripped over a parking block. I tried to brace my fall my grabbing onto the hood of the nearest car, but it was a bit too far over and I only succeeded in smashing my forearm against the side before falling completely onto the hard pavement below.

I groaned as I lay sprawled on the ground between two parked cars. My forearm had sort of managed to at least slightly lessen the impact, but the sharp sting in both my knee and my other hand was a clear indication that it didn't help much. I sat up slowly, being very careful to avoid any more bumps to my injured knee, bringing it up to examine it more closely. The skin had been scratched off in several places, and blood mixed with tiny pieces of gravel glistened under the sunlight. My hand wasn't much better off. I was trying to get out some of the gravel very carefully when someone interrupted my concentration.

"What are you doing?"

I froze. The voice was deep and husky, and I recognized it immediately without having to look up. My heart seemed to have stopped in its tracks. Slowly, trying to look as collected as possible, I raised my head to look him in the face.

Kai Hiwatari was standing a few feet away, dressed in dark jeans and a collared shirt, staring down at me through his deep auburn eyes. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, his open shirt fluttering softly in the light breeze. He looked even more imposing then I remembered him to be. His expression was hard, mostly blank, but his eyes gave off a slight look of curiosity. I found myself at a total loss for words caught up in his penetrating stare.

"Well?" He asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. I realized at that moment that I must look like a total idiot, sitting there frozen in place, my mouth gaping open, staring back at him with a ridiculously dumbfounded expression.

"Um," I replied, trying to regain my composure, "I fell."

I had managed to unfreeze my body enough to bring my arms into my chest. My limbs felt somewhat numb still, but at least I was no longer a statue.

He didn't say anything in reply to that, simply staring back at me with an unreadable expression. After a few uncomfortable seconds, his eyes flickered to the car I had tried to brace myself on.

He took several steps closer and I felt my heartbeat quicken as he approached me, but it slowed a little when he bent down to examine his car, finally freeing me from his intense gaze. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"You scratched my car."

Oh god. I had to be the most unlucky person in the entire world. Of all the cars in the parking lot, I had to fall on _his. _What were the chances of that? Like, a thousand to one?

A realization quickly dawned on me and I looked down to Tyson's car keys still clutched in my uninjured hand and then back up to see the thin line they had left trailing down the side of Kai's gleaming black BMW. I felt my eyes widen in horror.

Oh no. This was so not good.

Kai had straightened up and turned back towards me.

"I-I'm sorry," I said anxiously, a slight, unwelcome tremble in my voice. Again, he stared down at me with that hard, empty expression, saying nothing in reply. After a few moments, I couldn't stand to look back at him, and I looked down, sheltering myself from his intense gaze.

Suddenly, a few moments later, I felt the pressure of something grasping onto my upper arm. I looked up in shock to see Kai bent over behind me, one hand firmly grasped around my arm and the other reaching across my back to secure around my waist. In one quick motion, I was on my feet, and Kai's hands had let go of my body.

My knee stung more now that I was standing, but I barely noticed. I could feel the blush creep along my face and I looked back down to try and hide it. Kai however, had walked off to the trunk of his car and was rummaging around while I just stood there feeling stunned.

A few moments later, he came back holding a little first aid kit and a water bottle.

"Here," he handed me the water, and nodded towards my knee, "Clean up."

I nodded, shoving the keys into my pocket before taking it from his extended hand. I poured the water carefully over my hand first, cringing at the new newfound stinging sensation the contact brought. I couldn't help but let out a small cry of pain when I poured it over my knee. Fuck, this stung.

When I was done, I looked back up at Kai expectantly. The water bottle was still half full, was I supposed to give it back to him? I went to hand it back, before realizing how dumb that probably looked; giving him the water I used to clean my bloody, gravel infested knee. I quickly pulled my hand back.

"Sit," he commanded, gesturing towards the passenger seat of his car. He had pulled the door open while I had been tending to my injuries, and it stood ajar, with him next to it waiting for me to obey. I hurriedly sat down.

His car smelled really good, and everything was so clean. I was admiring the obviously expensive, tasteful interior of his car when Kai grabbed my wrist. Instinctually, I quickly pulled it out from his grasp. I looked up in surprise to see him roll his eyes in annoyance. In his other hand he was holding some kind of ointment and I realized he was just trying to put it on my hand. I blushed, hating myself for it, and held my hand out to him palm side up.

I was surprised at how gentle he was as he applied the ointment and then reached in his little kit for some gauze which he placed on top and then securely taped it to my hand. It hurt a little, of course, but I was so much more preoccupied gawking at him as he worked.

He then moved to tend to my knee. His focus pointed downwards, I took the opportunity to stare at his face. As usual, it held almost no expression; the only inkling of emotion was in his eyes, but even that was of no more than mild concentration. His hair was on the longer side, falling gracefully into his eyes. I had a strange urge to reach out and brush it aside, but I buried it, feeling ridiculous. Instead I focused on his eyes. He really had the most amazing eyes, deep and captivating. It was unnerving how much just a look from him made me feel weak and on display. I couldn't help but feel a little resentment towards him for that.

And yet he was so flawless, it was entrancing. I was so absorbed in my own thoughts, I didn't notice when he finished. He cleared his throat slightly, snapping me out of my trance. I blushed deeply when I realized I had been gawking at him through glassy eyes. Why did I turn into such a fool around him? It was really frustrating.

"Thanks," I mumbled awkwardly, looking down at my bandaged knee as to avoid his stare. He grunted in reply as he stood up, taking his kit back to the trunk.

"You can get out of my car now," his voice called out from behind his car, and I immediately jumped up and out of my seat. I stood there awkwardly, as I watched him slam down the hood of the trunk and then walk around to the driver's seat of his car. He was about to get in, when he turned to me and said, "I'll let Mariah know how much you owe me."

And then he got in, started up the engine and pulled away, leaving me standing there with my mouth hanging open.

That was the moment I remembered that Kai Hiwatari was a total ass. And yet, for some reason he had just helped me, when there was no reason for him to do so. Could it be that maybe Kai had a softer, kinder side? I thought of the story Hilary had told me earlier in the week and what my brother had said about him. Then again, maybe not. Perhaps he had had a reason to help me out, one that I was not aware of. But that seemed rather unlikely to me, and I couldn't help but think, or perhaps it was just hope, that just maybe, there was more to Kai Hiwatari than everyone seemed to think.

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